Jerusalem erases 20-point deficit to win in Vilnius

Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem dug itself an early hole, but rallied behind Curtis Jerrells to defeat Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 76-80 at Siemens Arena in the Lithuanian capital on Wednesday. Jerrells scored 20 of his game-high 26 points after halftime for Jerusalem in both team’s Top 16 Group G opener. He made 5 of 7 three-pointers to spearhead an impressive team-wide 13-for-23 shooting effort from downtown for the visitors, which helped mask their 19 turnovers and allowing Rytas 17 offensive rebounds. Jerome Dyson added 15 points and Yotam Halperin and Shawn Jones scored 10 each for the winners. David Logan paced Rytas with 19 points, Rokas Giedraitis scored 12, Arturas Jomantas 10 and Adam Lapeta posted 9 points and 8 rebounds in defeat.

Rytas took charge early with threes by Corey Fisher and Deividas Gailius on the opening two possessions en route to an 8-0 lead. Jerusalem closed the gap to 3, but Drew Gordon scored twice in a 6-0 push that made it 14-5 and resulted in a Jerusalem timeout. Josh Akognon added a triple for the hosts’ first double-digit lead and it grew to 14 before Dyson’s three drew the visitors within 23-12 after 10 minutes. Rytas continued to surge in the second quarter with an 11-2 run capped by a Logan triple that made it 34-14. Halperin came off the bench and teamed with Jerrells to halve the margin to 41-31 on his second three-pointer. But a technical foul on Amar’e Stoudemire gave the big man 4 fouls and allowed Giedraitis to made it 43-31 at the break. However the visitors grabbed the momentum to start the third quarter as Jerrells and Dyson drained threes in a 0-8 run to get within 4. Logan’s steal and layup gave Rytas some breathing room at 52-44. The hosts regained a double-digit edge, but Jerusalem continued to fight and got within 4 before Giedraitis’s floater
made it 63-57 at the end of the third quarter. Back-to-back threes by Dijon Thompson and Dyson tied it in the first minute of the fourth quarter. Dyson’s fast break layup gave Jerusalem its first lead, 63-65. Rytas regained the lead on Clevin Hannah’s basket-plus-foul that made it 70-69. Jerrells took charge with a pull-up jumper and a three-pointer as the visitors surged in front 73-77 with two minutes remaining. Rytas stayed close, but 2 free throws by Tarence Kinsey iced the game with 8 seconds remaining.

Head Coaches

PACESAS, TOMAS

Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius

"I feel sorry that we lost such an important game. We had a great chance to win, but lost intensity in the second half. Anyway, the main problem for us was shooting accuracy. We missed too many open shots, especially three-pointers."

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE

Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem

"A road victory is important. We started the game bad, we were soft, we missed some layups, some open shots. We were not ready for that kind of toughness. But mentally we stayed in the game, we never gave up. We waited for our moments and we reset in the second quarter playing the right way. We made a great effort on the perimeter to contest Lietuvos Rytas. We kept playing until the end."